Chapter 7
SEVEN
Marchello
I leaned against the back of the sofa in the living room, sipping vodka. Taking in Lissia’s elegance as she and Rosalie drank champagne and ate wedding cake put me at ease.
Could I keep that vibrant smile on her face for the rest of her life?
We just had to get through these turbulent times and rid ourselves of Collins.
Easier said than done.
I should have given her the wedding she deserved, not the quick nuptials we had exchanged in the secrecy of my father’s study. But it wasn’t about the wedding, right? We loved one another.
“Are you ready to take over the throne again?” Milo poured more vodka into my glass. “Dad’s leaving soon.”
“I wish he wasn’t.” I gazed over at my father as he talked business with Lucas. “But we will emerge as the top family.”
“Tell me what you need me to do, and I’ll get it done.”
“You focus on getting that new club up and running so we have an excellent source of revenue and a convenient way to manage the cartel’s funds.” I finished my drink. “I’ll take care of the dealership.”
“And Collins?” Milo arched a brow. “Because I know you’re not going to let that go.”
“Would you?”
“Fuck no. He shot at us.” He motioned toward Lissia. “And hurt her.”
“Milo,” Rosalie called from across the room. “I have a question for you.”
“Your new mother-in-law is a pain in the balls.” Milo chugged his vodka. “If she’s not lusting after Dad, she’s asking me to set her up with someone.”
“Keep her away from Dad,” I said. “That’s a nightmare none of us need.”
Lissia waved at me before bringing her champagne flute to her soft, sexy lips. I glanced at my watch and pointed up, indicating I wanted to go upstairs with her. She smirked, but from her lustful gaze, I knew she was ready.
As Milo made his way across the room to answer to Rosalie’s beckoning, my father joined me.
“It’s time, isn’t it?” I asked.
“It is.” His lips formed a hard line. “I’ll do what has to be done.”
“I hate that you have to go again.”
“I do too, but now that I’ve provided Juan with the information on Miguel’s death, my initial mission is complete.” He patted my shoulder. “We don’t have to use burner phones or stay out of touch for long periods of time. Once I handle this situation, I’ll come home and take the helm again.”
“Milo has a good team in place for you, but try not to take unnecessary chances.”
“Like kidnapping a rival family’s heiress?”
“I guess I deserved that.”
“You definitely deserved it.” He smiled as Lissia approached us. “But I’m convinced she’s worth it.”
“If you’re talking about me…” Lissia hooked her arm in mine. “You’re right, I am worth it.”
“I was just saying goodbye to my father,” I said. “Although, he assures me that he won’t be gone as long this time.”
“He seems like a man who keeps his word.” Lissia stepped toward my dad. “But I’m going to hold you to that promise. Come back to your sons as soon as you can.”
“It isn’t just them I need to get back to.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I have a new daughter too.”
“Thank you.” She hugged him. “I’m going to make a kick-ass Accetti too.”
“I don’t have a single doubt.” My father shot her his signature charismatic grin. “Your first order of business is to take care of my son.”
“Okay, but I don’t cook.”
“She does make a pretty tasty brownie.” I shrugged. “From a box mix.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we have people to cook for us.” My father winked. “I’m going to go finalize things with Milo.”
“I can do that with you,” I said.
“Absolutely not.” He leaned in and hugged me. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Dad?” I held him a second longer. “I don’t mind.”
“It’s your wedding night.” He motioned toward the staircase. “Go and be alone with your bride.”
“You’re sure?” I asked.
“Marchello!” Lissia grabbed my hand. “Read the room. Daddy wants us to enjoy our wedding night.”
“Daddy?” I frowned. How in the hell is she getting away with that?
“Don’t ask,” my father said. “I’m not arguing with her.”
“You caught on fast.” Lissia kissed his cheek. “Be safe.”
“Take care of one another.” My father nodded.. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
When he turned to find Milo, I let out a frustrated breath. “I just got him back.”
“If you want to meet with him and Milo, I don’t mind. I can hang out with my mom and Ricardo.” Lissia touched my face. “Spend more time with him before he leaves.”
“You’re amazing, but it’s better if he goes as soon as he can. And he’s right, you and I should be alone.” I pulled her to me. “Let’s go upstairs.”
“Lead the way.”
“You don’t want to say goodnight to your mother?” I asked as I guided her to the staircase, not really giving her a chance to answer. I wanted her all to myself.
“I’ll call her later.”
“You’re going to be busy all night.”
“Then I’ll catch up with her tomorrow.”
We hurried up the stairs and to our section of the house. Ours had a nice ring to it. For so long, I had been alone—dating casually but never expecting to settle down and share a life with someone. That all changed in an instant. As hard as I tried to fight my undeniable attraction to Lissia, she was far too formidable an opponent.
The second we entered the sitting room, she spun in a circle. I hadn’t seen her this carefree in weeks. It was a welcome change of pace.
“I love this dress.” She smoothed her hands along her sides, arching her breasts forward. “It was the perfect choice for me to wear when I pledged my love to you.”
“I had a feeling you would like it.”
Lissia held out her wrists. “And this bracelet was my great-grandmother’s.” She touched the diamonds. “It complements the dress.”
“It’s gorgeous,” I said. “I’m glad you were able to wear it today.”
“Me too.” She slipped off her shoes.
As she took off her jewelry, I removed my jacket and placed it on the sofa in the sitting room. I followed her into the bedroom where I took off my shoes and socks while I lost myself in her beauty.
Visions of her walking toward me with a soft, confident smile as we prepared to say our vows flooded my thoughts.
The years before she invaded my life were brutal and unforgiving. My family had suffered an incredible loss when my mother and brother died, and I had inflicted pain and sorrow on so many in the name of duty.
For a brief moment, just before Lissia said “I do,” I wondered what I had done to deserve her. How did a man like me find love and happiness?
Once I put the ring on her finger and sealed our fate with a kiss, I had the answer. I was meant to be hers as much as she was meant to be mine.
We were in this together. Forever…
“Unzip me.” She turned her back to me and lifted her thick, chocolate-colored curls before gazing over her shoulder and licking her lips.
I stepped toward her and gripped the zipper on the back of her dress. Slowly, I drew it down.
“I love being your wife.”
“I love that you’re my wife.” I spread the dress open and slipped it from her shoulders as I trailed my lips along her soft skin at the nape of her neck. “I love you.”
“I owe you an apology.”
“For what?” How could she have done something to warrant an apology? I hadn’t let her out of my sight in days.
“Ever since we got together, I’ve been…” She leaned back and rested her head on my chest. “Um…”
“Impossible?”
“I was going to say I could be difficult at times.”
“I can’t argue with you.” I shimmied the dress over her hips and let it fall around her feet, leaving her in a white strapless bra and a silky pair of panties. “You are difficult.”
“You’re so charming.” She stepped out of the dress. “It’s one of your best qualities.”
“Let me finish.” I bent down, scooped her cherished dress from the floor, and draped it over the chair in the corner of the room.
“Please.”
I circled my arms around her waist. “I can admit there were times, especially at the beginning of your hostage situation, that I could have been nicer.”
“My hostage situation?” She turned in my arms and reached for my tie. “Is that what we’re calling it?”
“What would you like to call it?”
After she removed my tie, I unbuttoned my shirt and slipped it off my back before letting it join her discarded dress.
“I like to think it was me holding you hostage.” She swiped her lips down my chest, kissing my ribcage on her way to her knees. “You didn’t let me go because you couldn’t.”
“That’s definitely a possibility.” I caressed her flawless face. “I’ll never let you go.”
“Good.” She bit the corner of her bottom lip, kindling my arousal. “Because I’m never leaving.”
She unbuckled my belt and gazed up at me while she unbuttoned my pants and lowered the zipper.
“Then I guess we’re both being held hostage.”
“Maybe that should be my first tattoo,” she said. “What do you think?”
She tugged my pants and boxers down. I stepped out of them and kicked them to the side.
“I think we should put the word defiant in front of hostage .”
She settled on her knees before taking my cock in her hand. Leaning forward, she darted her tongue out and swirled it around the tip.
“Fuck,” I breathed out as I ran my fingers through her curls.
When she gripped the base of my shaft, I thrust my hips forward and pumped in and out of her hot, sexy mouth. With her free hand, she dug her fingers into my thigh as she took me deeper. She hummed around my cock, licking and sucking until I lost myself in the ecstasy she created. I was seconds from exploding down her throat.
No! I growled inside my head.
I gripped her wrist and pulled her to her feet, breathing heavily and gazing into her lust-filled eyes.
“You didn’t stop me because you didn’t like it.”
“I fucking loved it.” I popped open the clasp on her bra and licked my lips. Her breasts were spectacular. “But there is something I want to do as your husband.”
“What’s that?” She nipped at my jaw. “I’m up for anything.”
“I want to consummate this union properly.” I pushed her down on the bed and climbed on top of her. “And that means I want to come inside your pussy.”
“Fuck, yes.” She slipped her hand inside her panties and closed her eyes as she fingered herself. Then she brought her fingers to my mouth and smeared her juice across my lips. “Do you want a taste? Every part of me belongs to you.”
I sucked her fingers into my mouth as she wiggled out of her panties and hooked her leg around my hips. I propelled my waist forward, moaning when I sheathed myself in her tight, wet core.
“Chello.” She reached up and touched my face. “I’m yours.”
“You’ve always been mine.”
All the noise and clutter since the moment I saw her at the auction flowed out of my head. For the first time since that night, a tranquility settled inside me. We were one. She was mine. I was hers. I would never let anything come between us.
The more I moved inside her, the wetter she became, helping me to slide deeper. The heat of our bodies radiated against one another as I found her lips and kissed her slowly.
“Marchello…” She tightened her legs around me and clenched her walls around my dick. “I…”
She thrashed under my weight, rolling her head from side to side as she unraveled beneath me.
“Me too, baby.” I shifted onto my knees, wrapping her legs around me as I pounded into her, roaring out my ecstasy and filling her with my come. Marking her…claiming her.
“Mmm…” She reached for me. “That was delicious.”
I gently kissed her before settling in next to her and bringing her to my chest, breathing in the scent of her sweet-smelling hair.
“I’m happy I met your expectations, Mrs. Accetti.” I swiped the throw from the back of the couch and draped it over us.
“Look how beautiful my rings are.” She held up her left hand and admired the diamond-covered wedding band that sat below her engagement ring. “I’m never going to take them off.”
“I’m glad you like them.”
“You have incredible taste.”
“There’s something I didn’t tell you about the wedding band,” I said. “But I want you to know where it came from.”
“What do you mean? Didn’t you buy it when you bought my engagement ring?”
“I didn’t have to.” I took her hand and glanced at the rings. “I bought the engagement ring, but I already had the wedding band.”
“How come you had a wedding band?”
“It was my mother’s. My father put it on her finger when they got married.”
“He let you give it to me?” She sat up, pressing the throw to her chest. “It’s so sentimental, I… Are you sure you want me to have it?”
“My father split the set years ago. He gave me the wedding band and Milo the engagement ring.”
It always seemed ironic that he would give us those particular pieces considering he never wanted us to get married. Maybe I had misunderstood him all these years. Watching him suffer after my mother died was enough to make me shut out the possibility of ever falling for anyone. Lissia changed that for me.
“I could have bought you a new one, but I thought having my mother’s would be like having her blessing.” I pressed her knuckles to my lips. “But if you want something new, I’ll get one as soon as possible.”
“No.” She straddled my lap. “Don’t you dare. I’m not giving this one back. I want it.”
“It’s yours.” I held her close to me. “The fact that we even have something so sacred to her is a blessing.”
“Oh, how did you…” She held up her hand, shaking me off. “Never mind, it’s so special that you and Milo were able to inherit them.”
“You want to know how it’s possible we even have them, considering how she died.”
“I’m working on being less impulsive.” She shrugged. “It’s not going so well.”
“I don’t think we’re ever going to solve that problem, but I can answer your question.”
“You don’t have to.”
“You’ll only ask Ricardo, so…”
“Okay, tell me.”
“As you know, my mother was pregnant when she died. Her fingers were swollen, and she didn’t want to risk having her rings cut off as she progressed in the pregnancy, so she took them off and kept them in her jewelry box.”
“She wasn’t wearing them when she died.”
“No.”
“I’m honored to wear her wedding band.” She kissed my jaw. “Thank you.”
“I believe with my entire soul that she would have wanted you to wear it.”
“I’ll make her proud that you chose me to be your wife.”
She cuddled against my chest and placed her hand over my heart. When I gazed down at the wedding rings sparkling against the stream of moonlight coming in from the windows, an unpleasant thought seeped into my mind.
Bringing up my mother always seemed to cloud my judgment and leave me feeling dark and empty. I hated that the memory of her made me feel that way.
I should have evacuated this line of thinking from my brain the moment it invaded this happy occasion, but now it dominated everything. It took over my senses, swirling out of control until I came to the same conclusion I always came to.
What if by placing that wedding band on Lissia’s finger, I had cursed her with the same fate my mother suffered? What if by marrying her, I hadn’t protected her? What if I had doomed her?
Tick, tick, tick…